There are many types of semiconductor-based rigid sensors. Implementation of semiconductor-based sensors that measure acceleration, force or pressure on a substrate and a size such that the sensors are flexible or semi-flexible has been problematic and commercially unsuccessful for the most part. These problems include thermal budget restrictions of the underlying substrates, mechanical integrity of the sensors on the flexible substrate, surface roughness of the substrates, signal routing, adhesion of metals to polyimide substrates, cross-talk between sensors, power supply requirements, high cost and unacceptable manufacturing requirements. Moreover, current flexible sensors do not provide real-time feedback that can be used to adjust a stimulus, such as touch, force, acceleration and flow, or the operational characteristics of device to compensate for the stimulus.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flexible, non-intrusive, real-time, low cost, readily available feedback device to measure and assess acceleration, force or pressure.